At this point, I'm starting to think Logan and I are the same person. Her columns on depression are the clearest explanation of how I feel that I've encountered and now I find she has the same teeth grinding and long-term unsolvable abdominal pains. I think the abdominal pain is exacerbated by anxiety, if not completely caused by it. I don't know what the cure is.

@julebsorry It's such an emotional/psychological issue for me. Now I'm in a job that I don't love but that pays OK I guilt myself for not sticking it out in a "creative" field despite not really loving publishing as I thought I would. Jobs are so tied up in our self-definition. I loathe saying what I do for work now, despite it being the right choice for me right now. Too long... I need to work on my self-confidence and find a creative outlet :)

I applaud the effort to speak about money to those looking to enter publishing. I logically knew that editors didn't make much money, but I didn't really consider the implications of this. The reality is that most people in publishing (whether in editorial or otherwise) do have family money or spousal support. For those of us that have student debts and come from low-income working class families, it can be depressing and frustrating to see your colleagues in expensive quirky clothing and heading out for cocktails while you're trying to figure out some freelance proofreading to pay rent in the overpriced city you live in (because publishing can apparently only function in overpriced cities). I ultimately quit publishing because the job wasn't as creative or fun as I'd hoped and been led to believe it would be, the potential to move up was extremely low (and the salary for an editor with 15 years experience who worked 60+ hours a week was only $50k), and I wanted to do things that my $30k salary wouldn't allow me to. I now work in an unrelated, uncreative job but do have extensive benefits, free transit pass and $45k salary. Still not huge, but it allows me time and space to consider what I really want to do and the income to try new things in the pursuit of it.